Blending mill agitator and additive feed



Oct. 13, 1959 J. J. FISCHER BLENDING MILL AGITATOR AND ADDITIVE FEEDFiled March 29, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet lx i'a 1.

INVENTOR. J'a/ov I ISCHER Oct. 13, 1959 J; J. FISCHER BLENDING MILLAGITATOR AND ADDI'TIVE FEED Filed March 29, 1956 2 Sheets-Shed 2 N wR INVEN TOR. JawvJ. F/awzk BY f I JTQALVE'YI M Unimd States Pat fnt.BLENDING MILL AGITATOR AND ADDITIVE John J. Fischer, East Stroudsburg,Pa., assignor to The Patterson Ke lley Co., Inc., East Stroudsburg, Pa.

. Application March 29, 1956, Serial No. 574,922

I '5 Claims. (Cl. 259-25) Thisinvention relates to machines of the typesometimes refttrred to as Blenders for mixing materials in Moreparticularly, the invention relates to improvements in machinesdesigned, for example, to produce moist or wet mixtures when workingwith dry powdered materials such as are normally considered to beimmiscible because of their tendencies to lump when coming in contactwith moisture. More specifically, the present invention relates tofurther improvements in devices such as disclosed for example in priorPatents No. 2,514,126 and No. 2,677,534.

Whereas, theoretically, an intimate mixture of dry PQWdcIed material anda liquid may be obtained by spraying the liquid into the powdered drymaterial while tumbling the'latter, it has been determined by practicethat in industrial blending operations dry materials are often me withwhich tend to lump when liquids are sprayed Q! PQ lIQCl Or stirred orotherwise introduced thcreinto in accord with conventional methods.

treatm n Another object of the invention is to provide an improvedblending mill as aforesaid which obtains an improved wet-blendingoperation without use of complicated or expensive accessory equipment.

Other objects a d advantages of the invention will appear. in thespecification hereinafter.

In the drawings: Fig.1 is a side elevation of a wet-blending millembodying the invention, with portions broken away to show the nter r tr Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section on an enlarged scale,

showing details of the liquid feeding and blending mechanisni. of themill of Fig,

' Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a detail of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is asection taken along line IVIV of Fig. 2. The invention is shown in thedrawing herewith as 'being embodied in a tumbling mill of the typeillustrated in the patents previously referred to; the mill comprisinggenerally a hollow container comprising opposite side leg portions 110,.12 of frusto-cylindrical form disposed with their cylinder axes.intersecting at approximately 90 and welded together as indicated at'14. The outer ends or the cylinder portions 10, 12 are closed by endplates 16, 18 which are detachably mounted thereon as indi- "cated at 19to facilitate loading the machine with feed materials and/or cleaningout the machine, or the like.

The container is fitted at its opposite sides with axially alignedcylindrical housings 20-20 which mount upon *stub shafts 22, '24 whichare in turn carried within trunpatents.

nion bearings 2526 supported upon frame or pedestal portions 27--28 atopposite ends of the mill.

As shown in Fig. '1, the housings 20 are welded to the container shell10 and the stub shaft 24 is keyed or otherwise fixed to the housing 20so that the mill container and the shaft 24 are integrally connectedtogether. Means for driving the mill to rotate may be supplied in anypreferred form. As illustrated in the drawing, for example, a motor 29mounted on the pedestal 28 and connected to the shaft 24 by means of achain and sprocket system as indicated at 32 is employed to cause themill to rotate upon the bearings 25, 26, whereupon the material loadedwithin the mill will be subjected to a thorough admixing action, asexplained in the aforesaid A discharge spout and control valve asindicated at 33 is conveniently provided at the apex of the millcontainer structure, to facilitate dumping of the blended batches ofmaterial from the mill into a wheelting operation, as will now bedescribed in detail. As

shown in Figs. 1, 2, the stub shaft 22 at the right hand side of themachine as viewed in Fig. l is hollowed as indicated at 36 and isrotatably mounted within the cylindrical housing '20 by means of ballbearings 38-38.

The pedestal bearing for the housing 20 is indicated in Fig. 2 at 39;and thus it will be appreciated that the mill is rotatable upon thebearing 39 while the stub shaft 22 is freely rotatable within thehousing 20. Interiorly of the container the stub shaft '22 is bolted orotherwise coupled as indicated at 40 to a hollow agitator shaft 42 whichspans the interior of the container and rotatably engages as indicatedat 44 at its other end (Fig. 2) with the stub shaft 24. A motor asindicated at 45 is mount ed on the pedestal 27 and is geared to the stubshaft 22 by means of a pulley and belt drive mechanism or the like asindicated at 46. Thus, it will be appreciated that operation of themotor 45 will drive the shaft 22 and the agitator shaft 42 to rotateinteriorly of the mill independently of rotation of the latter upon thetrunnion bearings 25-26 in response to operation of motor 29.

The shaft 42 is provided with radially extending spiders or discs asindicated at 46 at intervals along the agitator shaft, which'supportwires or rods 47 at intervals therearound to lie generally parallel tothe axis of rotation of the shaft 42. This shaft is preferably driven torotate at a substantially greater speed than the speed of rotation ofthe mill casing. Hence, the material load within the mill container, asindicated at 50 (Fig.

l) is subjected to a relatively intense agitation locally in the rangeof the wires or rods 47 as the load material flows back and forththrough the area of the agitator shaft 42 in response to rotation of themill casing.

' To introduce the liquid feed into the dry material of the mill feed, Iprovide one or more liquid film feed disks as indicated at 52 in thedrawing. As shown in Fig. l of the drawing, a liquid feed disk isillustrated as being employed at the preferred position of mountingthereof or the like, centrally bored so as to freely slip-fit upon theshaft 42' and is then held in place thereon in canted attitude as shownin Figs. 1, 2 and 3 by means of eccentric housing or bushing devices 54,56. The bushing devices are locked on the shaft 42 by means of setscrews or the like as indicated at 57, and at their inner ends relativeto the disc- 52 the bushing devices are chambered as indicated at 58 toprovide liquid supply reservoirs at opply tube as indicated at 64 isslip-fitted through the hollow interior of the stub shaft 22 so as todeliver liquid from a suitable supply reservoir (not shown) to theinterior of the box 61. It then runs into the chambers 5858 at oppositesides of the disc 52 in response to the action of centrifugal forcesthereon.

The objective of the invention is to maintain a constant feed of liquidin surface film form to the opposite sides of the disc 52 externally ofthe bushings 54, 56, as the disc 52 rotates with the shaft 42 and isthereby carried to wobble about interiorly of the dry feed material ofthe mill. The liquid films thereon are thereby constantly slung and/orwiped off the disc 52, and the liquid is thereby dispersed into the drymill feed material in such manner as to provide an intimate admixingthereof without permitting the dry material to lump.

The rate of liquid feed to the disc 52 will of course be regulated so asto best suit various blending conditions, as will be understood byanyone versed in the art. Thus, for example, in event it is determinedthat when working with a relatively thin liquid and only a low rate ofsupply thereof is required, the bushing devices 54, 56 may be relativelytightly adjusted against the disc 52,

'thereby leaving only minute liquid escape passageways between the edgesof the bushings and the surfaces of the disc 52. If necessary thecoacting surfaces of the bushings and the disc 52 may be quite preciselymachined or ground so as to meet in more accurately fitting relation soas to provide therebetween only microscopically small liquid escapechannels. uid is relatively heavy and/or viscous the bushings may beappropriately spaced away from the disc 52 by any suitable spacerdevices disposed therebetween, and thus relatively large liquid escapepassageways will be provided for flow of liquid outwardly along theexternal surfaces of the disc 52 into the zones of slinging of theliquid from the disc 52 into the dry mill feed material.

It has been determined that the mounting of the liquid film feed discupon the shaft in canted attitude thereon provides a preferred liquidfeed action because the liquid is thereby caused to continuously scatterthroughout the mill feed material in all directions incidental torotation of the shaft 42.

Incidental to this novel feeding of liquid to the mill feed material thecage comprising the spiders 46, the disc 52, and the wires or rods 47,revolves rapidly to assist in scattering the liquid feed and to break upany incipient lump formations in the mill material. It will of course beunderstood that although only one form of the invention has been shownand described in detail, it will be apparent to those skilled in the artthat the invention is not so limited but that various changes may bemade therein without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A mechanism for blending liquid and dry pulverant materialscomprising a container for dry material, an agitator comprising a bladedreel carried by a hollow shaft rotatably disposed within said containerfor churning the material therewithin, and a liquid feeder carried bysaid agitator to rotate therewith, said feeder comprising a disc mountedupon said agitator shaft for rotation therewith in canted relation tothe axis of rotation thereof and supporting the blades of said agitatorreel, said agitator shaft including a reduced diameter liquid passagewayfor conveying liquid from externally of the agitator to a liquidcompartment the interior of said agita- Or, in event the feed liqtorshaft in the region of said feeder disc, said agitator shaft beingported contiguous to said feeder disc, and means including said portedagitator shaft whereby upon rotation of said agitator the liquid feedingtherethrough exits in fine stream form and spreads upon the surface ofsaid feeder disc wherefrom it is wiped and blended into the dry materialas the latter is churned by said agitator reel blades.

2. A mechanism for blending liquid and dry materials comprising acontainer for dry material, an agitator comprising a plurality of bladescarried by a hollow shaft rotatably disposed within said container forchuming the material therewithin, and a liquid feeder carried by saidagitator to rotate therewith, said feeder comprising a disc mounted uponsaid agitator shaft for rotation therewith in canted relation to theaxis of rotation thereof and supporting the blades of said agitator,said agitator shaft including a liquid passageway for conveying liquidfrom externally of the agitator to a liquid port contiguous to saidfeeder disc, and means including said port whereby upon rotation of saidagitator the liquid feeding therethrough exits in fine stream form andspreads upon the opposite side surfaces of said feed disc wherefrom itis wiped and blended into the dry material as the latter is churned bysaid blades.

3. A mechanism for blending materials comprising a container, anagitator comprising a bladed reel carried by a hollow shaft rotatablydisposed within said container for churning the material therewithin,and a feeder carried by said agitator to rotate therewith, said feedercomprising a disc mounted upon said agitator shaft for rotationtherewith in canted relation to the 'axis of rotation thereof andsupporting the blades of said agitator, said agitator shaft including apassageway for conveying material from externally of the agitator to aport contiguous to said feeder disc, and means including said portwhereby upon rotation of said agitator the material feeding therethroughexits in fine stream form and spreads upon the surface of said feed discwherefrom it is wiped and blended into the material within saidcontainer as the latter is churned by said blades.

4. In a blending mill, a container for the material to be processed, anagitator disposed within said container and comprising a hollow shaftrotatably mounted within said container and power-driven from exteriorlythereof, said shaft mounting radially extending disc meansintermediately of its ends, fluid housing devices cooperating tocomprise chambers which function as liquid supply reservoirs, saidhousing devices being positionally adjustable on said shaft at oppositesides of said disc means and defining therebetween adjustable width'fiuid exit means, agitator blades mounted upon said disc means anddisposed generally parallel to said shaft thereby comprising a reel typeagitator, said shaft being ported adjacent said disc means, fluid feedmeans extending into the interior of said shaft, and means includingsaid ported shaft whereby fluid feeding through said ported shaft willpass into said housing means and through said fluid exit means and willthen flow out and spread onto said disc means for mixing into thematerial being processed upon rotation of said shaft.

5. A mechanism for adding liquids to dry pulverant materials comprisinga container for dry material, an agitating device disposed within saidcontainer for churning the material therewithin, said agitating devicecomprising a series of rod like agitator elements spaced around anagitator shaft-in spaced relation thereto, and a liquid feed devicecarried by said agitator to rotate therewith, said feed devicecomprising a disc mounted vupon said agitator for rotation therewith andextending transversely of the axis of rotation thereof, fluid housingdevices cooperating to comprise chambers which function as liquid supplyreservoirs, said housing devices being positionally adjustable on saidshaft at opposite sides of said disc means and defining therebetweenadjustable References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATESPATENTS Leder May 19, 1885 McKelvey Oct. 3, 1899 Edgar et al. July 23,1935 Cornell Feb. 24, 1942 Cornell July 20, 1943

